"The war on crime": The securitization of narco-trafficking in Mexico during the Calderon administration.

This thesis applies the securitization framework developed by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde (1998) to study the case of Mexico during the government of Felipe Calderón. I use discourse and content analysis to answer the following questions: How and why has narco-trafficking been securitized during the Calderón government? What are the consequences of this securitization? I argue that Calderón successfully securitized narco-trafficking by using a rhetoric that emphasized the moral otherness' of criminals, resulting in two important consequences: the neglect of social approaches to combat narco-trafficking and the use of this discourse to limit government accountability regarding the high number of casualties in the country. I conclude by arguing that exploring the link between narco-trafficking and securitization theory can bring about new insights to guide theoretical research and policy making. --Leaf ii.